He could not yet speak now, but as soon as he could understand and articulate the terrifying incident that he somehow got into on an ordinary day, he has one story that he could always revisit.

An 18-month-old boy was trapped in an elevator well and survived the surreal ordeal.

The toddler fell down a lift shaft, but held on to life by clinging to the side of the lift for 15 minutes as it continued to move up and down a building in Melbourne's southeast.

Paramedic Warren Simpson told the Sydney Morning Herald that he learned from the boy's parents that he had been playing with friends outside when they noticed he was missing.

The boy's father then heard his son screaming and crying in the lift shaft.

No one has seen how the little boy managed to climb in between the lift and the lift wall, about 8pm (AEDT) on Sunday, the Herald reported.

Country Fire Authority (CFA) firefighters arrived at the three-storey apartment block on Thomas Street in Dandenong to find the boy hanging six metres above the ground.

"He had been holding on to something on the side of the lift and the lift had actually been going up and down a number of times," said Mr Simpson.

Firefighters made access through the lift's emergency man hole and made a human chain to get the boy out, a CFA spokeswoman said.

"Firefighters made a human chain passing the child up to the roof of the lift and then back down to the waiting arms of his father," she said.

The boy was trapped for up to 15 minutes until being rescued by firefighters, the Herald reported.

The boy, who emerged from the lift shaft covered in grease and dust, is expected to share with friends and loved ones the story of how rescue men made a human chain to get to him safely when he ran into serious trouble during playtime - when he is able to speak and articulate his ordeal.

Mr Simpson noted that the toddler was confined in a very small area, considering his stomach and his back were covered in grease and dust from the shaft.

The little boy had been brought to a hospital and checked up for any clues of harm, but he suffered no injuries during the incident, the Herald reported.